Give It Up, Pass It On, and Bring It Home

This year has been a whirlwind, but it’s all good. I would not exchange what is happening in my life and in the life of our church for anything. NorthStar is an indescribable place. God is doing some pretty incredible things here at The Star.

I had just run the St. Jude Half Marathon in December and with a hurt knee I decided to lay off running until I found the time for surgery. Yeah, right. I ran New Years Day but not a day since. I am hoping to get back in the swing pretty soon as I hope to run the whole Marathon in December. I went to the first work day at our new building on January 22 and wow did the work begin. Not because I was there of course but because God’s people showed up in force ready to work. After my trip to the Philippines, I hopped back on the work schedule and the rest is history. It is hard to believe it is July already. Things are progressing really well and we are excited about getting in the building for our first service. (Date still undetermined)

We have been blessed to have had four work teams from churches out of state/area that have come in and assisted us with the work. Our people at NSC have given sacrificially of their time to work tirelessly in order to move the project on to completion. We have 5 work teams within the church that are really going after it. They are great! It is going to happen! "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen`~Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) God is doing the work through us.

I decided that it was about time I updated my blog. Here goes! One of the statements we use at NorthStar is: Give It Up, Pass It On, and Bring It Home. We have different ways of saying what we are about at NSC. We believe we are to give it up to God in worship. We were created to bring pleasure to God and one way He is pleased is when we worship Him. I am constantly amazed at the creative and authentic worship that takes place at NorthStar. Both personal and public worship is needed. Pass it on is what we, the body of Christ should be doing in relation to ministry and evangelism. Every believer is a minister and ever believer must pass on the good news of Christ to others. God put us here to love each other and to share His love with others both at home and abroad. Bring it home. We are most effective when we are maturing as His disciples. The early church in the New Testament matured in the faith and fellowshipped together. We have got to do the same.

This blog is probably as scattered in thought as I am sometimes but here is what I am saying. NorthStar is a place where real people in a relevant church connect to Christ and each other in order to fulfill their life purpose. I am thankful for what God is doing here and look forward to what He is going to do next. Give it up! Pass it on! Bring it home!

>> Keeping It Real...

Okay here I go … I am taking a moment to kind of catch my breath after the fast and furious first few weeks of 2009. I thought I would catch up on a few things such as updating my blog! There is no way to really catch up on all the months that I have missed since my last blog, but I am going to at least mention a few things that are going on now. If you cant tell, I am stoked about these last weeks. The first eight weeks of 2009 at NSC have been incredible. We have seen 19 baptized, 25 added in membership, six people go on mission with God to the Philippines, and have averaged 611 each week in our services.
If you are new to NSC or if you are not as familiar with NorthStar, we are almost three years old. We launched Easter Sunday 2006. It seems like we have been here for a long time but really it has been less than 36 months. God has truly done a supernatural work here and He is the one to receive all the praise.
I am blessed, as is the church, to have such an awesome Leadership Team. They are visionary, passionate, and committed. They are willing to do almost anything and trust me, they have done a lot of stuff with such willing hearts. I appreciate them more than they would ever know. There are 9 people on our Leadership Team. They rock! Speaking of service, we have a couple hundred people who are actively serving in areas of service at NSC. It takes 124 people for a average weekend to happen at NSC. What a blessing to see so many people ready to do whatever it takes to be used of God to make the weekend exciting, creative, compelling and relevant. No matter how many people we might have doing “the stuff”, it would not be happening without the mighty, awesome presence of God. It is all about Him.
It is our desire at NSC to have authentic worship that creatively shares the compelling Word of God. It is our desire to become more like Christ and help others to know him and mature in Him as well. It is our desire to love each other and to share His love with our community and world. NorthStar is an awesome place. A few years ago I prayed asking God for a hospital, He gave me NorthStar.

>>November Two Years Later...

It is hard to believe it has been two years this month since a group of people started meeting in preparation to launch the NorthStar Church. On a personal note, has been a wonderful two years of my life. I am so thankful for all the ones the Lord has used to bring about NorthStar Church. So many people have given and continue to give so much of their time and resources in order that NorthStar becomes the church God wants her to become. We give God the glory and the praise for what He has done. It is incredible how God continues changing lives and adding to His church. We have so many reasons to give thanks this season but to mention one, I am thankful for NorthStar.

>>The Right Focus

Focusing with the right perspective. That sounds easy enough but sometimes it is not as easy as it sounds. Keeping our eyes on Christ is where fulfillment truly lies but how do we find ourselves looking to other things instead? There is a pull on our lives toward the busy schedules, responsibilities and challenges this life offers. This does not necessarily mean that these are evil things. In fact, hopefully they are important things in our lives rather than burdens. You may add to this list as you wish. All of the things that pull us or compete for our time must be synced with the necessary relationship with God. No schedule, ambition, or desire should take the place of our walk with Christ. Often the things that take our time are good things. The question is, “are they the best things?”. It is when we keep our relationship with God in check that we can function properly and focus with the proper perspective.
Speaking of focusing with the right perspective, one of the things that we are focusing on here at NSC is people. We want to love the things that God loves and God loves people. It is our focus and desire at NSC to show God’s love to people. We want to show His love in such a way that people exchange ordinary living for the extraordinary through the power of Jesus Christ. As you read this, think of someone who needs His love. As you face the challenges and demands of a busy week, be sure to keep Christ in His rightful place in your life and share His love with others. He has what we need and He has what others need.